National Additive Manufacturing Institute Funds First Projects
Engineering Materials 3/29/2013 9 commentsThe National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute has funded its first seven projects. They span a range of technologies and focus on fine-tuning existing AM processes for a variety of goals, including tooling, materials development, and composite production.

Video: Crowdsourcing App Helps Space Agency Improve Robots
Blog 3/28/2013 19 commentsA free iPhone video game app turns your Parrot AR.Drone into a simulated spacecraft, which you can use to simulate docking on the International Space Station. You get points for accuracy and speed, and the European Space Agency gets tons of data to help make better space robots.

Results: Your Opinions on a Design Ideas Forum
Engineering Materials 3/25/2013 22 commentsHere's a summary of your ideas for starting a Design Ideas forum that poses design problems and asks for input from the community to help solve them in innovative ways. We also ask for a bit more feedback to help fine-tune things.

The Technology That Engineers Love Not Thinking About
Sponsored Blogs 3/15/2013 3 commentsThe next time you're churning through simulation models, manipulating 3D designs in real-time, or rendering a beautiful photo-realistic image, take a moment to think about all the work that goes on behind the scenes and be glad you don't have to worry about it.

Self-Assembly Meets 3D Printing
Engineering Materials 3/8/2013 15 commentsSelf-assembly and 3D printing, two technologies at the edges of manufacturing, are on the verge of coming together to make 3D-printed objects that self-assemble when stimulated by water.

A few weeks ago, Ford Motor Co. quietly announced that it was rolling out a new wrinkle to the powerful safety feature called stability control, adding even more lifesaving potential to a technology that has already been very successful.

It won't be too much longer and hardware design, as we used to know it, will be remembered alongside the slide rule and the Karnaugh map. You will need to move beyond those familiar bits and bytes into the new world of software centric design.

People who want to take advantage of solar energy in their homes no longer need to install a bolt-on solar-panel system atop their houses -- they can integrate solar-energy-harvesting shingles directing into an existing or new roof instead.

Focus on Fundamentals consists of 45-minute on-line classes that cover a host of technologies. You learn without leaving the comfort of your desk. All classes are taught by subject-matter experts and all are archived. So if you can't attend live, attend at your convenience.